in the kitchenthe breaded fry

Coating a wing before it goes in the oil — flour, seasoned flour, batter or crumbs — so the crust rather than the skin carries the crunch and holds the sauce. One common method for preparing food for deep frying involves adding multiple layers of batter around the food, such as cornmeal, flour or tempura; breadcrumbs may also be used.

Breading was the Buffalo practice before bare frying was. From 1961 John Young served uncut chicken wings that were breaded, deep fried, and dressed in his own tomato-based mumbo sauce at John Young's Wings 'n Things; he had heard from a travelling boxer about a Washington, D.C. restaurant doing good business in wings and decided to specialise. He registered the name at the county courthouse and left the Buffalo area in 1970, and in 2013 the National Buffalo Wing Festival inducted him into its Hall of Flame.

The method did not leave the region when he did. It held seventy miles east, and it holds across fried chicken generally: Nashville's hot chicken is marinated in buttermilk, floured and fried before the paste goes on.

Inference — the coat changes what sauce does. On bare skin sauce sits and slides; on a crust it soaks, which is why breaded traditions tolerate a thinner, sweeter sauce than a bare fry does.

Dry the wing, then dredge — straight seasoned flour, or flour then egg then crumb for a thicker jacket. Rest the coated pieces a few minutes so the flour hydrates and stops shedding. Fry at 177–191 °C / 350–375 °F. A coated wing browns faster than a bare one, so it comes out earlier by eye, not by clock.

Standard across Rochester and through most of American fried chicken; the argument with Buffalo is seventy miles long and unresolved. Tradition holds — a shop that breads will describe its flour as a recipe, and a shop that fries bare will describe having no recipe at all.